Meal-check system.



No. 872,011, PATENTED NOV. 26, 1907. G. A. PHILLIPS. MEAL-CHECK SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 14. 1905.

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GEORGE A. PHILLIPS, OF MARION, INDIANA.

MEAL-CHECK SYSTEM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 26, 1907.

Application filed January 14. 1905. Serial No. 241,050.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnonen A. PHILLIPS, a citizen o'f'the United States,residing at Marion, in the county of Grant and State of Indiana, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Meal-Check Systems, ofwhich the following is a specification.

In the operation of restaurants having regular customers it is common toprovide the customer with a ticket entitling him to a given number ofmeals, and the ticket is punched from meal to meal to indicate thenumber of meals consumed. In practice in many restaurants these ticketsare retained by the cashier, and the tickets are punched as .theindividuals come in and get their meals. In such a system disputes arisebetween the cnstomer and cashier as to whether the cashier has punched.the ticket more than it should be punched, and the customer has no meansof checking accurately the action of the cashier.

The object of my present invention is to rovide a system, and apparatusfor carrymg the system out, by which the customer may be able tomaintain at all times a check upon the cashier.

The accompanying drawings illustrate a mechanism by means of which mysystem may be employed.

Figure 1 is a central vertical section; Fig. 2 a perspective view, andFig. 3 is a plan of one of the tokens.

In the drawings, 10, 10, indicates a plurality of token receptacles,each having a bottom 11. Resting upon the bottom '11 is a slide 12provided with an opening 13 which lies normally immediately above thebottom 11. The opening 13 is of a size a trifle larger than the tokens14, and the thickness of the slide 12 is slightly less than any one ofsaid tokens. Each slide 12 is provided at one end with suitable means,such as a pin 15, adapted to enter a socket 16 formed in the back 17 ofthe casing forming the recep tacles 10 in order to prevent too greatmovement of the slides 12 in one direction, and said slides are rovidedat the opposite end with any suita le means, such as a downturned end18, or a push-button, by which it may be readily grasped by the cashier.The

back 17 of the receptacle casing faces the customer, and at its bottom Iprovide a token till or basin 19 into which the tokens may fall as theyare ejected from their various receptacles. Upon the cashiers side ofthe casing forming receptacles 10 is a casing divided into a series ofcompartments 10 corresponding in number and arrangement to thereceptacles 10. The receptacles 10 and the compartments 10 are numberedor otherwise distinguished, so that one set of receptacles correspondswith the other set of receptacles, and each of the receptacles 10 isprovided with a card-holder 20 in which may be inserted a card 21bearing the number of the compartment and the name of the customer.

The operation is as follows: The apparatus is set up, with the basin 19toward the customer, and the cashier provides himself with as many setsof tokens 14 as there are compartments 10. Each set of tokens mayconsist of any desired number, as twentyone, each of which is providedwith a number or other mark to indicate to which compartment it belongs,and with another number or designating mark which will indicate itsposition in its series. For instance, the tokens of each set would benumbered con secutively from one to twenty-one inclusive, and would alsobe each numbered with a compartment number, as, for instance, 1, or 2,&c. Suppose then that a customer buys from the cashier a set of tokens,twenty-one in number, enough for meals for a week. These tokens are thenplaced in regular order in the receptacle 10 corresponding to the numberof the set, number one being given to the customer, and the others, fromtwo to twenty-one, being arranged in regular order in the compartment,number two lowest. In this position said number two of the set would liein the'opening 13 of the slide corresponding to the compartment 10. Whenthe customer has consumed a meal he hands to the cashier his checknumber one, and the cashier deposits it in the corresponding compartment10. He then pushes upon the slide 12 corresponding to the set number ofthe customer and thus ejects token number two of that set, and it fallsinto basin 19, where the customer can take it and carry it with him.When he returns for another meal the operation is repeated. If at anytime (by reason of improper manipulation or otherwise), a token has beenejected from any compartment to a person other than the customer to whomit belongs, then, when the customer presents the preceding token and thenext token is ejected from his com- I partment 10, he will immediatelynotice that there is a hiatus between the numbers of the two tokens, 'i.6., the one he has returned and the one which has been ejected to him,and he is thus able to positively represent to the cashier that an errorhas been made.

By means of this apparatus it no longer becomes necessary for thecashier to keep a large number of current meal tickets in hand, nor isit necessary for the customer to be bothered with a ticket good for alarge number of meals, which ticket he may lose. Instead the customermerely carries with him at all times a single token, and this token isof such character as to enable him to keep a positive check on thecashier. When a set of tokens has been exhausted the customer will beagain required to pay for the set,

whereupon they are arranged in the same order in the proper compartment10.

If desired, the tokens as returned may be placed by the cashier on thetop of the set in one of the compartments 10, instead of putting theminto the corresponding compartment 10, but in such case there is not sogood a check upon the account of the customer.

While I have designedthis invention especially for the use stated, Idesire to be un derstood as claiming it for all uses to which it is ormay be found to be applicable, such as handling admission checks ortickets at fairs, places of amusement and the like.

I claim as my invention:

1. A; ticket-system apparatus, consisting of a casing, one member ofwhich is divided into a plurality of token-receiving compartments andanother member of which is divided into a corresponding plurality ofcompartments in sets, the compartments being distinguished, the tokensof each set being distinguished from each other in succession, means forejecting tokens in suc cession from any one of the compartments of thesecond member, the compartments in the first member serving to receivein suecession tokens previously ejected from the correspondingcompartments of the second member.

2. A ticket system apparatus consisting of a substantially L-shapedcasing, the horizontal arm of which is divided into a plurality of tokenreceiving compartments and the vertical arm of which is divided into acorresponding plurality of token receiving compartments, a plurality ofdistinguished sets of tokens adapted to be placed in said compartmentsin sets, the compartments being distinguished correspondingly to thetokensets, the tokens of each set being distinguishable from each otherin succession, means for ejecting tokens in succession from any one ofthe compartments in the vertical arm of the casing, the compartments inthe horizontal arm serving to receive in succession the tokens ejectedfrom the cor responding compartments of the vertical arm. In Witnesswhereof, I, have hereunto set my hand and seal at Marion, Indiana," this6th day of January, A. D. one thousand nine hundred and five.

GEORGE A. PHILLIPS.

Witnesses:

CHAS. M. McOoY, E. W. BOWMAN.

